Emergency slide-valve actuator for locomotives.



F. RSASAMAN. EMERGENOY SLIDE VALVE ACTUATOR FOB. LOCOMOTIVES.

in!" mm fill lllllli .A PPLIOATION FILED JULY 21, 1910. 983,989.Patented Jan. 31, 1911.

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FRANK P. SASAMAN, OF PITTSTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

EMERGENCY SLIDE-VALVE ACTUATOR FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

esaose.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 31, 1911.

Application filed July 21, 1910. Serial No. 573,044.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK P. SASAMAN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Pittston, in the county of Luzerne and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Emergency Slide-ValveActuator for Locomotives, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

It is a common occurrence for the piston stem of the valve yoke of oneor both of the steam slide valves of locomotive to break while on route,necessitating long delays incident to sending a messenger on foot to thenearest station to telegraph for another engine, or in disconnecting thebroken valve and running the engine on one side until a point is reachedwhere another 10- comotive is to be had. 7

The object of the present invention is to overcome such delays byproviding each steam chest with an emergency appliance which, whenthrown into operation, returns the valve with the valve stem as thelatter is retracted.

. Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a partofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a central vertical section through a steam chest of alocomotive embodying my improvements; Fig. 9. is a plan of the same,with the steam chest cover removed; and Fig. 3 is a cross-section on theline 33 of Fig. 2.

For the purpose of disclosing the application and nature of myimprovements, I have shown a working cylinder 5 of a locomotive, havinga steam chest 6, within which is the conventional slide valve 7,connected up as usual by the yoke 8 at the inner end of the piston stem9. To the front of the steam chest is suitably applied a number of outwardly-projecting cylinders 10, three being shown equally spaced apart,and each provided with a spring-pressed tubular piston or presser 11.Each piston is provided with a stem 12 and a head 18, the stem passingthrough the packing nut at the outer end of the piston, and providedwith a cam 1 1. The piston head 18 is slightly enlarged to bear againstthe inner wall of the steam chest and limit the outward movement of thepiston, and is provided at the top with a shoulder 15 arranged, when thepiston 11 is in operation, to engage over the upper edge of the yoke 8and hold the yoke in position on the valve. Below the shoulder 15 thepiston head, as shown in Fig. 1, has a flat face to bear against theside of the yoke. Each piston is pressed rearward-1y by a spring 16which is arranged on the stem 12 within the tubular portion of thepiston and between the piston and the outer end of the cylinder. Forretracting the several pistons against the tension of their respectivesprings and holding them in inoperative postions, as shown in F ig. l, arock shaft 17 is suitably supported and provided with fingers 18, equalin number to the cams 14, each finger being arranged to engage the camsat the inner edge and draw them outwardly. For operating theshaft 17 asuitable operating device, such as a lever, is provided in the cab ofthe engine and is connected to a link 19, which in turn is connected toan-arm 20 attached to the shaft 17.

It frequently happens that the valve stem breaks off close to the yoke,or the yoke itself breaks in one or more places, while the engine is enroute. \Vhen this happens, the engineer works the operating device inthe cab to move the rock shaft 17 in a direction to release the cams 14,which causes the pistons to be forced inwardly and brought to bear onthe front of the yoke under the action of their springs, the shoulders15 of the piston heads engaging over. the upper edge of the yoke, asbefore stated, which prevents the yoke from riding up on the valve. it-hthe piston thus in working position, when the valve stem is forcedforwardly, the spring of the piston will be compressed, and as the stemis retracted it will, under the action of the pistons, be followed up bythe yoke and valve, thus adapting the valve to work as successfully asif the piston and yoke were not defective. The springpressed pistons maybe prevented from turning in the cylinders in any suitable manner, such,for example, as disclosed in Fig. 3, wherein a portion of the bore ofthe cylinder is flattened, as indicated at 10 and against which acorresponding flattened portion of the piston bears. Should it require aless number of pistons to actuate the valve than the number provided onthe steam chest, one or more of these may be thrown out of operation bymoving the rock fingers to a position retracting the pistons, andturning the cams 14, of the pistons to be placed in operation, on theirrespective piston stems and out of register with their retractingfingers.

Vhile I have termed my invention an emergency slide valve actuator forlocomotives, and have shown and described the same as so applied, Idesire it to be understood t-hat my improvement is also applicable toall steam engines, stationary and pump, using the slide valve piston orD-slide.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. The combination of a steam chest, a slide valve within the chest, avalve stem for operating the valve, having a valve yoke receiving thevalve, and an emergency appliance having a presser arranged to work thevalve oppositely to the valve stem when the stem or yoke is broken.

2. The combination of a steam chest, a slide valve within the chest, astem for actuating the valve, and an emergency piston for moving thevalve oppositely to the stem when the stem is broken.

3. The combination of a steam chest, a slide valve within the chest, astem for actuating the valve, an emergency piston for moving the valveoppositely to the stem when the stem is broken, and means for throwingthe piston into and out of operation.

4. The combination of a steam chest, a slide valve within the chest, apiston stem for actuating the valve, having a yoke passing about thevalve, and a spring-pressed piston arranged to bear against the yoke andmove the valve oppositely to the piston stem when the stem or yoke isbroken.

5. The combination of a steam chest, a slide valve within the chest, apiston stem for actuating the valve, having a yoke pass ing about thevalve, and a piston to actuate the valve oppositely to the piston stemwhen the piston stem or yoke is broken, arranged to bear against theface of the yoke and engage over the upper edge thereof and prevent theyoke from rising up on the valve.

6. The combination of a steam chest, a slide valve within the chest, avalve stem for operating the valve, a cylinder extending outwardly fromone end of the chest, a

spring-pressed piston within the cylinder having a head within the chestarranged to press the valve oppositely to the piston stem, the pistonhaving a piston rod extending to the outside of the cylinder, a camattached to the piston rod, and a rock shaft having a I finger arrangedto engage the cam and retract the piston to inoperative position.

7. The combination of a steam chest, a slide valve within the chest, avalve stem for operating the valve, a cylinder extending outwardly fromone end of the chest, a springpressed piston within the cylinder havinga head within the chest arranged to press the valve oppositely to thepiston stem, the piston having a piston rod extending to the outside ofthe cylinder, and means to hold the piston in retracted position,operatively connected to the rod.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK. I P. SASAMAN. Witnesses C. XV. ANDERSON, H. M. WnsrcoTT.

